"I never heard of him before," Jones said of Griffin. "But he's a great role player and that's what they need. He plays great defense and can make the extra pass on offense."

Griffin finished with eight points, a team-high 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals.

"I wasn't surprised they were going to him," Griffin said. "He's a great one-on-one player. He's their go-to guy. I got a hand on the ball and disrupted his timing."

Anderson finished with 24 points and Tony Battie added 18 off the bench for Boston, which last opened a season 4-0 in 1987 when it started with six consecutive wins. The Celtics play at Indiana Saturday night.

"He does all the little things," Celtics coach Rick Pitino said of Griffin. "Adrian has guarded both (Toronto's) Vince Carter and Eddie Jones two guys we had to stop."